mid july observations

So, it’s been almost 2 months since i got the garden going, whether by seed or (purchased) transplant.
The seeds were purchased from Seeds of Change in 2005 (lost and found this year) never checked for viability, just crossed my fingers. Some seeds went into “self watering” containers. Some went into the ground.

From seed: Squashes. Zucchini and buttercup.

I put 4 zucchini seeds in a large self watering container, 2 sprouted (which saved me from having to pull two) these got off to a fast start, and I had high hopes for their success. Once the zucchini flowered the plant didn’t really grow much anymore. the first few flowers dried up and died, the leaves have a light green color and in the recent heat started to get “wilty”. At first I thought they were being overwatered, and recently they seem to be underwatered. Today I finally saw the first fruit! (yes squash are fruit)

(zucchini before and after – peas behind the zucchini in the before photo)

The buttercup took a while to sprout, 6 seeds begat 3 plants, and these were very slow growing in a raised bed. The vines started taking off in the past week or two, and now have some great big flowers. Before finding the first zucchini today, I was coming to expect that the buttercup would be the only ones to grace the table this fall.

Early tests were all in favor of the self watering containers, and I was thinking about using nothing but next year, lately I was rethinking…. but now, things may be looking up.

Carrots and leeks were also in self watering containers. Both started from seed, spaced according to the square foot method.

It took a while (a long while) for the carrots to finally sprout, and sprout they did. As of 2 weeks ago the roots are nothing to speak of, but they are growing well, and don’t need a lot of watering, which is nice. The leeks took so long to sprout, I thought they weren’t going to, and I’d totally given up on them and was out looking for some veg flats to transplant into those three containers. Fortunately I didn’t find anything at the local gardening center (save for Basil, which I already have a lot of.) because now it’s lookig like I’ll be getting 70 – 80% return on the leeks I planted. (another argument in favor of self watering containers!)

Given the viability of the carrot seeds, I started another patch of them with the remainder of the packet in the raised granite bed I built a few weeks back, hopefully I’ll be getting a second harvest from them, but to date, nothings come up. (not that I’ve expected anything yet.)

Also in this late started bed I put in a couple dozen nasturiums, three have come up so far. hopefully more come up, and will be gracing our late summer salads. If I get a slew of them, I can picture putting the blossoms in some wide homemade pasta. Otherwise, in salads they will go. Come fall, this bed will be getting a deep layer of compost and mulch to prepare it for good things next season.

Transplants this year include three kinds of tomatoes, peas, peppers and herbs. The tomatoes include Roma and the generically labeled “tomato” and “heirloom.” The former and latter are the only two to have set fruit. Not a lot, but a fair amount of little green tomatoes. One green roma is about full size, but not ripe for the picking. (am I supposed to let it ripen on the window sill?) Out of approximately 20 plants, the two in barrels are the biggest. One looks very healthy, the other looks like its on the verge of giving up. Half of the ones in the ground are outpacing the rest size wise. I don’t know if they are competing with underground roots (the lilacs or each other). Interestingly the bigger ones are fairly well spaced out, so I don’t have a clear idea of what to do next year. If the left, right, front or back was clearly better, I’d certainly know what to do next season.

I harvested the first few pea pods a couple weeks back. They weren’t really climbing the twine I set up, so last weekend I replaced the twine with 2×4” wire fencing, and threaded the pea vines up that. This seemed to be a good idea at the time, The buttercup didn’t mind me changing its support structure, but for the peas it was the kiss of death.

The plants, in a weeks time are all but totally dried out. I thought I was gentle, and at first the only casualties seemed to be the two I re-transplanted. But the other 4, in a move of solidarity, got all crispy despite the water. My grandmother has always grown bushels full of sugar snap peas, delicious right out of the pod, or cooked – if we could wait that long. The generically labeled “peas” purchased at the local garden center turned out to not be a starchier type. They were mediocre at best, even though we ate them minutes after picking, so we won’t miss them. The frozen ones from Trader Joes are much better tasting. But, I hope Grammy can offer us some of hers.

In front of the peas, I recently put approx 1” pieces of scallion – the root end. In a weeks time these have tripled in size. Soon I’ll be able to snip off more scallions than I’ll ever need – a never ending supply! – for the rest of the season at least.

The pepper (purple bell) is a recent transplant and hasn’t done very much at all in two weeks. The herbs: basil, oregano, stevia, rosemary and sage are all doing quite well.

(the “S” portion of the garden – stevia on left, sage on right)

In years past I inherited tomato plants from my grandmother at our mid-summer family picnic, and I recall becoming inundated almost immediately from those plants – so hopefully we’re fast approaching a more bountiful time of this garden. – otherwise I’ll really be regretting not joining up with the local CSA!

-- southern NH. - smack dab in the middle of 5a and 5b - with lots of shade and full sun, in all the wrong places.